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Case 249 - Housing Management informs elderly residents that site managers are no longer allowed to move furniture for social events

Issue

Elderly residents told by their Housing Management that their Site Managers would no longer be allowed to move household-type furniture for social events due to health and safety concerns.

Panel decision

The company is right to restrict manual handling for individuals who are not physically fit to do it. They have also made some sensible suggestions as to how the frequent moving of furniture could be handled to allow residents to maintain their programme of activities. The health and safety issues (manual handling) have been sensibly addressed, and the outstanding issue to be addressed is how the necessary resource is funded. This is a matter for the management and residents to discuss and agree.